Sportsfriends: BaraBariBall and Beyond

HELLOOO OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION BLOG! I’m really happy and fortunate to be able to tell all of you that BaraBariBall is headed to PSN as part of Sportsfriends, alongside JS Joust, Hokra and Super Pole Riders. We introduced the Sportsfriends collection about a week ago so you should already know what that is (if you forgot, it’s a collection of four fun, competitive multiplayer games), so now I’m here now to tell you all about BaraBariBall, or BBB for short.

BaraBariBall is a new fighting game for 2 to 4 players. Instead of just smacking your opponent around, players duel for control of the ball and score points by dunking it into the goals on either side of the screen… though, there is still a lot of smacking each other around, especially since spiking someone into the water will cause them to lose a point.

The other aspect of BaraBariBall that makes it especially fresh is the jump system. See those balls rotating around each character? Those are jump orbs — each time a player jumps while in the air, one of them disappears. Jump orbs regenerate while the player is touching the ground. The number of jumps remaining also contributes to the knockback and hitstun dealt when attacks connect.

These are just the basics – the game features a variety of unique characters, arenas and moves – but if you want to learn more about how to play, check out the manual on the BBB homepage here. The team is still hard at work tuning and polishing the game, but it already plays like a dream and has been shown around the world, including at EVO 2012, Tokyo Game Show’s Sense of Wonder Night, IndieCade and many more. Apart from an awesome and talented playtesting group, I’m also working with the Terrell bros over at Critical Gaming blog. The blog speaks for itself but I’ll say it’s hard to find more thorough and articulate writers and designers.

As for myself, I’ve been making and playing games for most of my life, both by modding games like Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM, developing a bunch of small independent projects, and working professionally as a programmer and designer.. I’m just about old enough to remember playing Street Fighter 2 back when America had arcades. All this to say, this stuff is in my blood and, though BBB may have a retro look in screenshots, in motion it runs great at a smooth 60 FPS and we’re taking the balance and the feel of the game very seriously.

So what’s next? We’re still focused on delivering a tight, highly polished gameplay experience and, once that’s accomplished, there are a few things we hope to be able to add. I’m especially excited about including a special mode for three players, as well as some single player challenges and training modes. There’s also some top secret stuff that we’ll have to talk about later…

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, think about supporting Sportsfriends on Kickstarter or telling your friends. We’re dying to bring you these games, but we need your help!

Hey the gifs on this page are a little funky. If they’re not moving or look distorted, hovering your mouse over them seems to help. Or if you can’t get enough gifs, there’s a nice one here: http://bbb.strangeflavor.net/day/2012/11/19/

Morgan i dont have the Option to purchase Music Unlimited’s annual subscription because ive been paying automatically every month since it was released so that advert is even in my psn store. you said Monday you’d get back to me on Tuesday, its Wednesday. i paid my $120.00 already being a day one Premium Subscriber. i dove it to $12.00 for the yr insted, do i NOT qualify?

……this comment is aimed at #11 “Cyb3rfr34k” ………….sigh, it’s so hard to follow that “don’t be a jerk” rule on here.. because I definitely wanna be a jerk to people like this lol…. but I’ll keep it simple… for anyone that knows NOTHING about videogames, let me inform you, some of the BEST games have NOTHING to do with graphics: Mario. Walking Dead. Journey. Tetris. Pacman. I could go on, but I’m not gonna waste my breath. You guys get the point (well, most of you that have passed middle school and have a TRUE appreciation for games will understand at least;) . Great graphics help a game.. but it’s not what makes the game great. Get a friggen clue cyberfreak.

and at #2… just because it looks different doesn’t mean it’s a “hipster” videogame ;) Again… tetris anyone??? A good game is a good game, anyone can love it. Anyone with an OPEN MIND that is ;)

Agreed with 12 and to add to that Cyberfreak, it’s pretty disgusting how self entitled and rude you are. Don’t like the game? Cool story, bro. The game industry is bound to have titles you won’t like. It happens. It’s few and far between for me nowadays to actually look forward to a title, but y’know, I don’t get all worked up over absolutely nothing just because a game doesn’t appeal to me. I just move on.
I don’t bawww like a baby and viciously attack a developer and act like they’ve done me some great horrible injustice. Wise up and stop playing hardcore with a keyboard while you hide behind a screen. Show some respect or just shut up.

lol i remember watching the trailer 2~3 times, trying to understand what they were trying to show and i came to conclusion that it was probably a bad joke.

watchin peoples playing outside with the MOVE on the street lol!
xbox controller all over the place, never heard about motionjoy…
barabariball have the worst graphix animation ever, super cheap physic & anoying music.

seriously peoples hyping for that game have been paid for sure :P
how can you compare that to mario, pac-man and tetris. cant you see that what u just said make no sense.
call that game “The Troll Game” and i’ll never complain again.

lol @12 & @13 what… you just donated 1$ so now you feel like a part of the production team. :P

I’ve been following sports friend here in ps blog, but I’m still confused. The best thing I like is from last post that show this game could be played without screen with my friends, but how could it really work anyway?

And the mini games is only 4? Well I tried to follow but until now sports friend is still kinda unknown to me what kind of game it is

hey divineLite – yeah there are four games total. The game you’re talking about is Johann Sebastian Joust. It works! The developer will tell you all about it in its own blog post next week, but basically you need to shove your friends without getting shoved too hard yourself.

Again, Cyb3rfr34k, maybe if you actually read the blog post, you would know VERY easily that it is a 2-4 player fighting game, where you have get the ball into the goal as well. Kind of sounds like a remix of pong if you ask me, with crazy colors and music, and actually some interesting graphic / art style in my opinion. Retro. How can I compare it to Tetris, mario, etc…? I just did. Sorry if you don’t understand but again it’s simple… just like those old games, and even many other NEW games… GRAPHICS don’t make the game. FUN GAMEPLAY DOES, and maybe a little bit of art style. And no, I didn’t fund the game, I WOULD if I had more money layin around though actually!!! I just got out of college and no job yet lol. And I’m not even sure if I’ll get this game, I haven’t decided yet.. but it is interesting, especially when 4 of these indie games are being bundled together and using the MOVE too… that is definitely interesting. But one thing that’s for SURE is that you certainly shouldn’t be the one to judge how fun the game is cyberfreak, since you can’t even comprehend the most basic of FACTS: what the game is about…… when it was written right in front of you… cmon now.

@oo7PorscheMGS
look everything you say its true. but that game dont look good and boring.
but thats just me. if you really love that kind of “gameplay”, go for it! nothing is holding you. but i remember on dead space 3 blog post all peoples complaining about how shiittty it gonna be, but im one really hyped for DS3. i was not trying to explain to haters that, that game is awesome. i dont care if peoples dont like a game i love to support. so why are you there still defending a game that should be free at first place bc its no more than any flash game you can find for free all over the net. i mean for 15$ ima get mass effect 1 in december.

I know whats the game is about, but other peoples, bc the trailer is actually not focusing on the gameplay but on the peoples playing it, are confused.

hello my name is polo155 i write backward and i think im smart!
~go to bed kid.~

well i only hate Online multi, Local multi is great. online eather crashes or disconnects or ppl are hardly on them when it comes to psn games or ppl leave when there about to lose or if my internet gets bad reception… there is many legit reasons why i dislike online multi. Local is good.

It’s called constructive criticism, learned in middle school, if u don’t have any then what’s the point in criticizing? The people who hate on DS3, or RE6 like myself acutally.. USUALLY gave reasons 4 what they wanted added 2 the game. But there’s a difference between constructive criticism or just criticism because u don’t like the game/genre. If u think ps move + multiplayer games ARE fun, then yes this game IS probably gonna be worth watching, + I’m pretty sure it’s coming w/ 3 OTHER games as well !! But obviously if u don’t like these kind of easy to pick up + play / multiplayer games (CALLING ALL CARS comes to mind, a fun PSN game that again wasn’t about graphics but about the fun of the MULTIplayer), then nothing they could do would make you interested. It’s why I don’t post on RPGame posts, because i don’t even play RPG’s since I hate the turn based fights, I’ve only played FF7 and a few other FF just for the great story. I don’t even say a word about JRPG posts, cuz they don’t appeal to me. Same reason I can’t judge justin bieber lol, he’s not marketed towards Me.

chsnavi.. I’m giving you more time to get popcorn lol, sprinkle some on your turkey for thanksgiving ;)